…the White House negotiating process was inadequate. Neither the president nor the House speaker ever wrote down and released their negotiating positions. Everything was mysterious, shifting and slippery.It’s truly hilarious that BoBo apparently doesn’t even read his own newspaper; click here to view an interactive graphic in the left-hand column of the story by Jackie Calmes to see a breakdown of the numbers between Obama and Orange Man.
Basically, what the numbers tell you is that the House Repugs are willing to ensure a downgrade of the credit of the United States of America over a $400 billion budget squabble.
And how exactly is the Boehner bunch an improvement over the 111th Congress that the voters, in their eternal, dunderheaded stupidity, removed from power last year?
This week Congress is likely to take up a spending bill that would limit the EPA’s ability to enforce clean air standards that protect us from air pollution. At the same time, I’ll be joining the League of Women Voters in launching the Clean Air Promise campaign – an effort to bring the coordinated assault on the clean air act to the attention to parents, families, communities and our leaders and ask them to promise to protect clean air.Author Alexandra Allred tells us the story of her son Tommy, who became very sick when Allred moved with the boy and her husband to rural Midlothian, Texas, where…
…the steam coming out of the cement plants near our house wasn’t just steam – it was filled with hundreds of thousands of pounds of mercury, lead, and other toxic chemicals. Suddenly, I understood why Tommy was always sick. The cement plants were poisoning the air. These companies were poisoning our kids.Here is more on the Clean Air Promise Campaign that Allred started with the League of Women Voters, and speaking of the EPA, this tells us about the latest Repug games on the budget concerning that agency…
And no one was doing anything to stop them.
"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is reduced by $1.6 billion, a 16% decrease from last year’s level. The cuts to the EPA alone represent 61% of the bill’s reduction compared to last year’s level. Funding levels for Land and Water Conservation Fund (land acquisition) programs are reduced $149 million (-33%), climate change funding bill-wide is cut by $49 million (-13%), and funding for the National Endowment for the Arts and the National Endowment for the Humanities is reduced by a combined $25 million from last year’s levels."To (maybe?) contact Fred Upton of the House Energy and Commerce Oversight Subcommittee to tell him to properly fund the EPA and leave it alone (I can dream, can’t I?), click here (good luck - I couldn't do it).
The (National Council of La Raza) audience (in attendance for an Obama speech) seemed upset by the President’s praise for the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, not because they oppose it, but because Obama has been so tepid in his support. The DREAM Act would allow some undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. as children to gain conditional legal status. That would then be extended to permanent legal residency if they complete at least two years of college or join the military within six years.In response, I give you the following from Obama Education Secretary Arne Duncan…
The problem was that the DREAM Act directs federal education aid to these students. It failed last December for that very reason. Poll after poll show that American apprehension about immigration mostly concerns taxes to support immigrants, and rightly so.
The second myth about the DREAM Act is that it would restrict the availability of federal student aid for U.S. citizens. Simply put, that will not happen. By statute, student loans are available to all students who are eligible to receive them. And because DREAM Act students would be ineligible for Pell Grants, passing this bill will not have costs associated with the program. All told, the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the DREAM Act would generate $1.4 billion more in revenue than it would add in costs over the next decade. As we strive to reduce the deficit, we can't afford to leave that type of money on the table.DREAM didn’t fail because voters were afraid illegal immigrants would benefit improperly from federal dollars. It failed because of typically fictitious wingnut garbage claiming it was another “big gumint” handout for those who, as far as I’m concerned if they had acquired a degree or served in our military, would have earned it.
Recently my wife and I attended a meeting to hear about the possible effects of cuts to the Medicaid and Medicare programs. The presentation wasn't so much about cuts, since the specifics are largely yet unknown, but rather about how critically important these programs are to the populace, and even more so to the least fortunate among us.Yep, your typical “teabagger” mentality on display here for sure…
The structure of the meeting was a presentation of relevant facts, followed by an open Q & A session. I'm not certain about the sponsorship behind this meeting, but one of the organizers was PennAction, a progressive-oriented action group. The ultimate goal was to educate attendees, and to present our views and concerns to Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick. That sounds like democracy in action to me.
However, as soon as the session opened up to Q & A, something very disturbing happened. Several tea party members had attended, and took over the entire meeting with rude shouting. When told to present a question, the arrogant shouter just continued his bullying rant, accompanied by shouts from others like him. During all of this, the shouter presented nothing in the way of real facts, just attempts to bad-mouth the Affordable Care Act, et cetera. His presentation was roughly at the intelligence level of a hyena doing lots of vicious snarling, but nothing coming from what could be recognized as human brain matter. This went on to the point of usurping most of the remaining time, thereby ruining the session for the other guests who conducted themselves in a civil manner.
I have to confess that as an Independent, I used to lean toward Republican candidates. I, like many Democrats that I know, share many of the same values as my Republican friends; the areas of disagreement are usually about HOW to get where we all want to be.
As I survey the damage that Republican policies are doing to our democracy, and the wanton hypocrisies of their positions, I am forced to take sides with the progressives. The meeting was an example of such hypocrisy: The tea party loves to cite the Constitution as their righteousness in their cause. Yet by infiltrating this meeting and taking complete control, thereby throwing the meeting into chaos, they deprived the mild-mannered, concerned citizens of their right to freedom of speech.
Tea partyers may think that this is the way to get their way, but in reality, they expose themselves as citizens unworthy of American citizenship, and they galvanize their opposition even further. Ironically, one of them stated that this nation is divided more than it ever has been since the Civil War. I agree, and their tirade last night is a primary reason why.
Bruce Cosaboom
Lower Makefield, PA
Oh, and speaking of “cut, cap and balance” Mikey, he should read this.
"More than a third of Americans now believe that President Obama’s policies are hurting the economy, and confidence in his ability to create jobs is sharply eroding among his base"...Here is the context Malcolm fails to provide…
Americans’ discontent does not stop there. The survey also found that Americans harbor negative feelings toward congressional Republicans. Roughly as many people blame Republican policies for the poor economy as they do Obama. But 65 percent disapprove of the GOP’s handling of jobs, compared to 52 percent for the president.It’s about jobs, jobs, jobs, and jobs. And blame is getting spread around among both parties (though I distinctly remember Mikey The Beloved crowing constantly last year when he ran against Patrick Murphy that unemployment doubled on Murphy’s watch, though Mikey and his pals haven’t done a damn thing to keep it from continuing to rise).
The dissatisfaction is fueled by the fact that many Americans continue to see little relief from the pain of a recession that technically ended two years ago. Ninety percent of those surveyed said the economy is not doing well, and four out of five report that jobs are difficult to find. In interviews, several people said that they feel abandoned by both parties, particularly as debates over the debt ceiling gridlock Washington.
I’ll tell you what – instead of all of these hypotheticals about how Obama would supposedly do against a generic GOP presidential candidate, let’s look and see how he would do against that supposed darling on the right who is being courted to run for the big chair because of his alleged popularity. And that would be Governor Bully.
As noted here (comparing registered and likely voters)...
Barack Obama (D): 56 (55)And that’s in New Jersey.
Chris Christie (R): 39 (38)
2 comments:
JD wrote a column today about the meeting and he named a person who spoke and said we need to talk with each other..suggesting civility I guess.
This speaker is a tea party supporter of fitzpatrick and quite rabid in his replies to me, and he has blocked me from the tea party face book page run by him and his wife. Also blocked from Fitzpatricks face book page.
They are frauds.
I skimmed over Mullane's column today also - hilarious to read his call for civility when he routinely calls Obama every name under the sun, and to this day, has given him no credit whatsoever for ordering bin Laden killed.
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